“I didn’t hit by myself and screw myself up,” the Angels right fielder said. “So that’s good. … I made sure I had eyes on me when I was working.”

Calhoun said that in past winters he’s hit without a coach and ended up making changes to his swing.

“That’s led me to some not so good things.”

Such as, the worst start of his career, a miserable two-month start to 2018 in which Calhoun thoroughly lost himself on the way to a .145 batting average.

Calhoun rediscovered himself after a trip to the disabled list and some time with hitting coaches Jeremy Reed and Shawn Wooten, who were working in the minor leagues at the time.

So it makes sense that Calhoun was reluctant to get too much time in the cage this winter without either Reed or Wooten, who are now on the Angels’ major league coaching staff.

“I didn’t want to take a step back,” Calhoun said. “I worked so hard to get where I was toward the second half of last year that I have the dark days of my career hopefully behind me. I don’t want to get into any bad habits that I created last year.”

Calhoun said last winter he tried to rework his swing to become more consistent and hit the ball in the air more. But, without the proper instruction, what Calhoun actually did was hit more balls on the ground. For a pull hitter like him, who often faces a shift, ground balls are outs, and Calhoun’s numbers plummeted.

A strained oblique – probably the result of too many swings in the cage to try to get right – sent Calhoun to the disabled list in early June. He returned to his offseason home in Arizona. That’s when he started working with Reed and Wooten.

When Calhoun returned, he had a new stance, and he proceeded to have one of the best extended streaks of his career. For the next two months, he hit .291 with a .926 OPS. Although he slumped again in September, he still finished with an .800 OPS over the season’s final 87 games.

With the good and bad combined, Calhoun hit .208 with a .652 OPS.

“I probably learned more about myself and hitting last year than I ever have,” he said, “and it was my worst year.”

For that, Calhoun can largely thank Reed and Wooten.

Now that both have been promoted to the major league staff, they’ll be around every day of the season.

“That’s awesome,” Calhoun said. “I couldn’t be more excited to have those guys and be with them day in and day out. There are so many things that change, day to day, just not repeating the same routine. There are very little mechanical things that to the naked eye most people wouldn’t see, and to them, they are very magnified. It was awesome to find out they were going to be here.”

Asked about some of the details of what happened last year, Calhoun said “I don’t even think I fully understand it. That’s the mastermind that is Shawn Wooten and Jeremy Reed.”

Reed, who will be on a big league coaching staff for the first time after spending five years working with minor leaguers, said that they’ve been working for months with Calhoun to try to rediscover what he found last summer.

“We’re collectively bouncing ideas off each other to get the best version of Kole that we can get,” Reed said.

Manager Brad Ausmus said he believes the version who returned after the trip to the disabled list is the real Calhoun.

“I don’t think the first two months of Kole Calhoun was Kole Calhoun, so I don’t even factor that into the equation, really,” Ausmus said. “I think when he came off the DL, that’s more the guy we’re going to get.”

Ausmus is also happy to have the Calhoun who is more of a clubhouse presence than he imagined before joining the Angels.

“He has a great energy,” Ausmus said. “He’s a hard worker. He is a very good influence.”

The Angels have Calhoun penciled in again as their everyday right fielder, despite the inconsistency of last season. This is the final guaranteed year of his contract, with an option for $14 million for 2020.

Jo Adell, one of the top prospects in baseball, is looming, likely to take over for Calhoun in right field eventually. Whether that happens this year or next year or in 2021 remains to be seen.

Calhoun, 31, brings the normal sense of urgency to prove himself.

“I’ve had a chip on my shoulder since I got into this game,” said Calhoun, a former eighth-round draft pick who long ago exceeded the expectations many had for his big league career.

He is quick to point out, however, that he’s not going to worry about his numbers this year.

He’s already been through that.

“It’s very nice to put 2018 behind me and be batting .000 again,” he said. “That was a grind of a season. It really, really was. I was probably as bad as I’ve ever been and as good as I’ve ever been in the same year. It’s a crazy game. I’m definitely not going to take anything for granted. I’m going to work and keep getting better and help this team win, instead of worrying so much about myself.”